Two-thirds of us want a rejoin referendum, but the politicians think they know better

A new poll has found that almost two thirds of Britons would now support a referendum on rejoining the European Union. It is just the latest in a number of polls on Brexit which should concern Rishi Sunak – and Keir Starmer too.

True, this could be an eye-catching outlier. But it is just the latest in a number of polls which indicate that the decision taken in June 2016 is now widely viewed as a mistake by a public which seem to be well ahead of a political class which has signed up to, to use the portmanteau coined by Neil Kinnock, Brexomertà.

The number responding to the Independent’s Savanta poll who said there should be another vote is now 65%, up from 55% at the same point last year, although they are split over the timing (the most popular options of those supporting a fresh vote were immediately, at 22%, and within the next five years, at 24%. 11% wanted a referendum within six-10 years).

The poll would be easy to dismiss were it not in line with an increasing shift in public opinion. YouGov’s tracking question – were we right or wrong to leave the EU? – is trending strongly towards the latter. For the past year those saying “wrong” have comfortably outnumbered those saying “right”. The latest figures report the biggest gap yet, 56% to 32%. One in five of those who voted Leave six years ago – more than 3 million people – say the decision was the wrong one.

The polls heap further pressure on a Rishi Sunak government thrashing around to show something, anything, which will prove Brexit is working. The latest is a focus on a focus on the “bonfire of EU laws” wanted by largely no-one and to an impossible deadline of the end of the year. “Repealing EU law and replacing it with domestic law seven years after we voted to leave is not especially ambitious and departments ought to be ready to do it,” says Jacob Rees-Mogg, a senior figure in the last two administrations who also didn’t manage it. The coalition opposed to it range from the Trades Union Congress to the Institute of Directors.

But it will, over the course of this year, also add pressure to Keir Starmer who, as much as he ever mentions Brexit, it is to utter clearly disprovable (see Jonty Bloom, this newspaper, every week) statements he probably doesn’t believe himself, such as that rejoining the EU’s single market would not boost UK economic growth. Shadow levelling-up secretary Lisa Nandy has dismissed the idea of rejoining the EU as “fantasy”.

Expect the polling throughout 2023 to continue to trend in this direction, as it sinks in more widely that Brexit has failed and there is a need for, at the very least, a major reset in relations with the EU. The question is, which party is prepared to keep up with the electorate?